THE ETHICAL MOVEMENT 161 it unmindful of their past service. Everything of abiding value to mankind that they had taught, it accepted and reaffirmed. It took from every religion the one principle—the principle of the good life—that was common to them all and, separating it from the theological creeds that had placed it in an inferior position, placed it on high, and offered it as the basis of a universal religious movement. The Christian churches, however, made claims that the Ethical movement could not concede. They claimed finality for the Christian doctrine. Growth was possible only within the limits of the Christian system. Its proposals were the perfect and final revelation of the divine purpose. The Ethical movement, on the other hand, believed in growth from age to age. It accepted no one teacher as comprehending all the moral possibilities of man— neither Jesus, Muhammad, nor the Buddha—but it exalted to tibfe supreme place in man's regard the spirit of goodness of which these great teachers were the witnesses. The Ethical movement also made a strong appeal to me on other grounds. Ancient society, I reasoned, had been held together by the unifying force of two powerful institutions—the monarchy and the Church—the first of which was being superseded, while the latter was being increasingly ignored. I was impressed by the thought that in the days when church-going was a universal habit the whole of the population of the country submitted itself to a regular, even if unsatisfactory,- moral discipline; whereas at the time to which I am referring, it is doubtful whether more than ten per cent of the population attended religious observances of any kind. It appeared to me, therefore, that modern civilization might be living upon and exhausting its moral inheritance, and that new centres of moral inspiration were urgently required, especially for those whose association with the churches had been broken on intellectual grounds. I believed, too, that the proper function of the churches was not necessarily the defence of an outmoded theology, but the organi- zation of the human conscience for effective and more beneficent action, and that in order to achieve this end, not fewer, but more churches were required. But such churches would need to base their teaching on man's growing experience, and search for and accept inspiration wherever it might be found; their teaching should aim to satisfy the intellect, console the heart, and prepare mankind to face the trials of life with a larger sympathy and a